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When KCON arrives in a new city for the first time, they generally hold just one concert night. Not in Mexico City, though. For the inaugural installment, KCON 2017 Mexico hosted two M! Countdown shows. And while more fans showed up the day prior to support BTS, concertgoers there to see Monsta X, Red Velvet, Astro, INFINITE H, and Eric Nam (yes, again!) also witnessed an awesome show on Mar. 18.

by Alejandro Abarca

The pre-show kicked off just like previous installments of KCON in the US have, with a performance of violinist and YouTuber Jun Curry Ahn. This time around he played Crush’s “Beautiful,” which is the OST for the drama Goblin. He also played BTS’ “Spring Day.”

by Alejandro Abarca

The first artist up for the second and last night of KCON Mexico was Astro, who started out their set with “Breathless.” Their stage’s graphics were a huge pop of color, which complemented their concept perfectly, as well as their songs. And other than singing “Only You” and a ballad, they performed “Should’ve Held On,” revealing that it was the first time they’d perform the song.

by Alejandro Abarca

For KCON Mexico’s second night, Eric Nam came back to serve primarily as the official MC. But after Astro, Red Velvet’s Irene and Seulgi came out to present the next performers: fellow member Wendy and Eric. The singers performed their SM Station song “Sweet Love,” and said it was the first time they’d performed it together. This performance lead to Eric’s solo performance, which meant that, though not officially announced, he performed both KCON nights. And even if he didn’t deliver a full set, he performed “Can’t Help Myself” and “Heaven’s Door,” which he didn’t do the previous night. For the latter’s performance, however, he didn’t have a guest rapper to stand in for Loco this time and just danced through it.

Cutely struggling through her Spanish lines, Wendy served as the MC for this portion of the show and introduced the next performer, Monsta X. A highly anticipated performance of the night, the group’s set started out with Jooheon and IM’s fiery rendition of “That’s My Future.” This perfectly set the pace for their entire set, because that’s what a Monsta X performance is: lit. The rest of the members joined the rappers on stage and delved into “Fighter,” “Trespass,” and “Hero.”

And just like the first night, the “Piñata Time” segment made a comeback. Before the piñata spun, Monsta X were cracking jokes and stating their preference for the outcomes. Jooheon proudly declared, “I like kiss time,” in English. The winning mission, however, was love song, to which they sang “White Sugar.” But their performance had to end on a high note with just as much power as they’d started so they ended with “All In,” much to the delight of screaming fangirls at the mere sight of their exposed abs.

by Alejandro Abarca

KCON Mexico had a sudden 180 degree switch up as the stage went from dark and manly-looking to an explosion of color and quirky graphics. Red Velvet sans Joy, who went back to Korea after their performance at SXSW in Texas for her drama shooting, immediately went into “Rookie” and “Dumb Dumb.” After this, the group gave — or at least attempted to — their greeting to the audience, but they were caught off guard an intense furor from the fans who chanted their names and screamed at the top of their lungs. The four girls looked both surprised and touched by the reception. They weren’t even the headliners but their fans had shown up in large numbers to support them.

This segued into “Piñata Time,” where their winning mission was “photo time.” Red Velvet gave the crowd many cute poses which, again, were received with loud approval. To close their set, the group’s final song was “Russian Roulette.” Even missing a member, Red Velvet did not miss a step or note, and covered Joy’s position in the choreographies.

by Alejandro Abarca

One of the key elements of every KCON M! Countdown show are always the special stages. Eric talked about the massive popularity K-dramas have in Mexico, and mentioned a few of the most popular there. This talk lead to the aforementioned special stage. Singing “Beautiful” from the most popular drama in Mexico Goblin, Monsta X’s Kihyun gave an ethereal rendition of Crush’s heartfelt song.

by Alejandro Abarca

by Alejandro Abarca

The last act of the night was INIFINITE’s rap line subgroup Infinite H. Their set started out with a video message from the rest of the members both introducing the duo and apologizing for not being there as a whole. As the video ended, a few purple spotlights appeared and Hoya came out with an interpretive dance rendition of Lukas Graham’s “7 Years.” Dongwoo followed up, together with their dancers, dancing to a Bruno Mars song.

Infinite H kicked off their set with their latest release “Pretty,” which the audience waved their hands and sang along to. Even though the crowd didn’t know all of their songs, they still danced and swayed to “Without U” and “Special Girl.” Moreover, all the fangirls squealed with “Sorry I’m Busy,” one of their most rap heavy songs, to which they delivered plenty of body rolls.

by Alejandro Abarca

And with that, the concert came to a close. Unlike the previous night, all the groups and Eric came out to wave the crowds goodbye. The INFINITE H members danced and grooved to other group’s songs, especially Monsta X. Astro, for their part, sang along to Red Velvet’s “Rookie” while pointing at themselves for being the super rookies they are. The all held hands and bowed out as millions of confetti dropped upon the audience. Most groups exited the stage after a short while, but INFINITE H stayed back to keep dancing and hug each other and deliver plenty of fan service.

by Alejandro Abarca

Considering it was the first installment, KCON Mexico surely delivered. They brought A-list groups who delivered top notch performances. Eric Nam deserves extra kudos for his Spanish skills, and Red Velvet gets an A for effort. INFINITE H and Monsta X gave their all in their choreographies, as did Red Velvet, whilst melting fanboys and girls’ hearts. And, of course, Astro made us cringe from the cuteness, proving to be a fun group to stan.

by Alejandro Abarca

KCON Mexico ended setting the bar high. Higher than Los Angeles and New York did in their first installments, that’s for sure. We can’t wait to see what’s in store for next year’s show, as well as the upcoming LA and NY conventions. KCON Mexico set the tone for an awesome year and we can’t wait for the US KCONs this summer.

by Alejandro Abarca

What’s your favorite KCON Mexico act? Tell us what you think in the comment section below and be sure to subscribe to the site and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr to keep up with all of our posts.

Expectations were at an all time high for the day one concert of the inaugural KCON 2017 Mexico — the first in Latin America, no less. The night of Mar. 17, KCON Mexico-goers were treated to a sold out M! Countdown show on Mar. 17 at the Mexico City Arena. This time around, the performers were BTS, Eric Nam, EXID, and NCT 127. There was even a surprise special stage by day two performer Astro.

Kicking off the night at 7:30 p.m., the pre-show began with an opening performance by the Korean Cultural Center in Mexico City with a rendition of traditional Korean drum music and was MC-ed by Joon, a Korean presenter who works in Mexican media. Shortly after, the official M! Countdown began and fans — who had already been screaming and wailing every time a song played over the speakers during the wait– went into a frenzy. For the intro, every group came out to wave at the crowds. Eric Nam, who has proven his Spanish speaking skills in After School Club before, served as the official MC.

In a weird twist of events, instead of having rookie group NCT 127 open KCON 2017 Mexico’s concert, it was actually BTS. Storming on stage, the septet opened their set with their latest single “Not Today,” then slowed things down with “Spring Day.” Army’s, BTS’ fandom, presence was definitely palpable in the Arena, given that their furor was felt throughout the rest of the group’s performances with “Save Me,” “Blood Sweat Tears,” and the perfect closer “Fire.”

Courtesy of CJ E&M

For KCON Mexico, groups played a game called “Piñata Time,” where essentially a cartoon piñata spun on the screens and landed on a specific mission the artists must do. BTS’ landed on “kiss,” prompting Jin to blow kisses at the cameras, and then “photo time.” For the latter, the members told the fans to pull up their cameras and then proceeded to make a series of poses — cute, thumbs up, and finger hearts — for them.

After the performance, Eric Nam was joined on stage by EXID’s Jeonghwa and said that this was her group’s first time in the country. And, after a few games with the fans, they introduced a special stage by Hani, who sang “Ecos de Amor” by Mexican group Jesse y Joy in Spanish. Then came the aforementioned Astro stage, who did an upbeat version of the classic “La Bamba,” complete with a rap verse and playful choreography.

Right on queue, the lights went out and a video of Eric Nam performing “Can’t Help Myself” backstage with his dancers came come the big screens before they came out themselves and finished off the song. And since the original featured rapper Loco wasn’t there for the show, NCT 217’s Taeyong stepped up for the rap verse. Eric then performed “Body” and “Good For You,” complete with awkward dances and all.

For his turn at “Piñata Time,” it landed on “love song.” “How did you know I’m a sweet guy?” he said in Spanish, keeping “sweet guy” in English. The camera then looked for a fan in the audience, to whom Eric sang “You, Who?” acapella. But he quickly went back to his shenanigans with “Into You,” dancing and jumping all over the place. Unexpectedly, the last song he performed was “Ooh Ooh,” which he promised he’d do “next time” at KCON 16 NY, even though he in fact did not at KCON 16 LA. With Infinite’s Hoya performing the next concert night, fans were eager to see if he’d show up for his rap verse. But nope. The audio played and Eric and his dancers kept on dancing sans Hoya.

Courtesy of CJ E&M

Being one of the only two girl groups performing at KCON Mexico, EXID fans showed up to support them. Unfortunately, the group was missing member Solji, who’s taking a break to recover from a health condition. Regardless, the rest of the members powered through “L.I.E,” “Ah Yeah,” and “Hot Pink.” Even though Solji and her vocals were missed, Hyejin held her own singing the full choruses on every song and seemed very happy every time fans would cheer for her while she sang. Moreover, the clear crowd pleasers were pre-viral fame “Every Night” and the song that made them what they are, “Up & Down.”

Courtesy of CJ E&M

As a rookie group, it was surprising that NCT 127 was the last act to perform at the first night of KCON Mexico. However, once on stage, it seemed like they had been closing out stadiums for years. Their set started out very EXO-y with an opening dance performance by Taeyong, who was later joined by more members. But once they were done, they exited the stage and Johnny ascended playing a remix of “Fire Truck” on the turn tables. It was the perfect intro for said song, which he doesn’t participate in. Also without some of the members, only Taeil, Doyoung, and Jaehyun performed “Without You.”

Adding to the oddness of having a rookie group close, there was the fact that NCT 127 only has a couple of singles under their belt. This was not a problem, though. Truth is, the group has more than a few stellar B-sides, and Mark and Taeyong killed it with “Mad City,” while the rest of the group delivered an amazing performance of “Good Thing.”

Moreover, KCON always gives way for special performances, and this was no different. NCT 127 recycled their sunbaenim (senior label mates) Super Junior’s performance of the Brazilian song “Ai Se Eu Te Pego” with mostly the same choreography the latter used during their Latin American leg of their Super Show 5 and Super Camp. Staying on concept, they followed it up with a rendition of “Sorry Sorry.” A few more dance performances by Win Win and Taeyong followed before ending it all with their latest, “Limitless.”

Courtesy of CJ E&M

For the show’s closing, all the acts came out to wave goodbye at the audience except for BTS. And while a longer set by them would’ve been appreciated, NCT 127 came through and delivered a show worthy of a headliner. Eric Nam was beyond cute with his Spanish and even managed to get a few zingers in, like making fun of fans for screaming at him while he was drinking water. BTS might have been short on time (they flew to Brazil right after their performance), but those five songs left everyone craving more. And, unsurprisingly, EXID’s choreographies were among the highlights of the night, not to mention LE’s fiery raps live.

The first concert seemed like the day to attend given BTS’ fans had showed up in droves to support them. However, with groups like Monsta X and Red Velvet performing the next day, expectations and excitement were at an all time high. The fans in attendance on day one poured their souls out with fan chants, singing, dancing, and just overall fangirl(boy)ing. The second night further proved that fans in Mexico are beyond passionate, but that’s a review for another day…

What’s your favorite act from KCON 2017 Mexico? Share your thoughts in the comment section below. Be sure to subscribe to the site and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr to keep up with all of our posts.